Posts tagged social media

Yesterday Business.com released additional results of its milestone study of social media usage across American business, this time with a focus on B2B. This research should put an end to the argument over the relevance of social media in the industrial sector. In fact, it appears that by percentage, B2B is ahead of B2C in some key categories.

Like the general study I reported last week, this report is chock-full of details by industry, job type, and social media platform. It’s significant because of the scope of the study and the statistical rigor applied to the results. I recommend spending time with this survey, but here are some highlights that caught my attention:

B2B (defined as companies with >2/3 sales to other companies) actually show as much, or more, involvement in social media as counterparts in B2C.

Professionals working on social media devoted 21% of their time to this activity versus 18% for the study average (this would imply a much lower rate for B2C but the number is not broken out).

B2B company respondents have somewhat more experience with business social media initiatives than their peers in B2C and mixed companies – 30% of B2B respondents have less than one year of business social media experience versus 35% across the study

The study showed a statistically significant difference in social media activity with B2B’s dominating in 11 out of 14 social media categories. The three exceptions are – there’s no B2B versus B2C difference in the percentage of companies managing online communities, and B2B companies are significantly less likely than B2C companies to monitor online ratings/reviews of their products or services and to advertise on social media sites.

B2B’s are more likely to pay for social media monitoring platforms.

B2B’s are having better fortune seeing an impact of social web projects on their web traffic (70% versus 62%); Revenue (60%/52%) and sales leads (57%/53%).

Marketing owns the social media initiative in 76% of the B2B’s versus 63% B2C.

B2B companies maintain a high presence on social media sites, with 81% maintaining one or more accounts on sites like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. B2B companies are much more likely to engage in micro-blogging on Twitter than B2C companies.

It should be noted that of the total survey participants, just 25% were B2B, indicating that overall adoption of social media probably lags B2C. And while the most highly-publicized success stories are eminating from B2C, this study shows conclusively that among those participating in the social web, B2B’s may be engaged more deeply and more broadly than their B2C counterparts … some of the most surprising, and compelling, conclusions I’ve seen in this field.

I’ve had the great privilege of teaching a college-sponsored class on social media marketing and as usual, I’m learning more from the class than what they’ve learned from me … but that will be our little secret, OK?

As I was providing examples of how you can leverage content across various channels to increase awareness, I had to admit that I didn’t practice this very well myself. Why? I just don’t have the time.

My marketing consulting practice has been very strong, and as I strive for an ideal work-life balance, something has to give. Time spent on incremental efforts like Facebook and Twitter has to take a back seat to family and customer needs.

This may seem like heresy from somebody who lives and breathes marketing, but I think this will be reality for more and more people. As the economy heats up, unemployed, or under-employed, individuals spending vast amounts of time on the social web and networking will have to make new choices as they return to work.

Here’s my hypothesis: The growth of social media will slow as the economy improves. And in areas where the economy is doing extremely well, social media usage may actually decline slightly.

Other possible implications:

As people return to work, the prime activity level on social media will be more heavily-weighted to the evening hours, since many companies restrict social media usage in the workplace.

The number of channels in which people participate will narrow. This may hasten the decline of some platforms like MySpace.

There may even be a slight shift in advertising budgets BACK to traditional media (drive-time radio?) since access to Internet-based impressions will be limited in a workplace. How do you see a Facebook ad when you’re working a construction job?

I believe that use of the social web will still grow overall as people and companies find clever new ways to make the underlying technologies more useful and fun. But I think it is unavoidable that an improving economy will temper this growth. The best environment for social media growth is when people have a lot of time on their hands and a shift is in our future. Do you agree?

Note: In addition to some wonderful comments below, you can find a nice counterpoint perspective on Gregg Morris’s related blog post: http://bit.ly/3tQtiW

I’m constantly looking for great new marketing ideas and I’ve found a couple of up-and-coming writers who have become some of my favorite sources. I wanted to share with you a few blogs that I’ve been reading for at least a few months, are off the beaten path, and deserve a look to see if they fit for you.

CK’s Blog – Christina Kerley is simply one of the best marketing bloggers out there and she specializes in B2B to boot. CK is a consistent source of fresh ideas and original perspectives. Her blogs are “how-to” manuals!

Digital Marketing Today — Nitin Gupta is just so freaking smart. He doesn’t blog often, but when he does, he provides thought-provoking, thorough commentary. Nitin recently converted his blog from observations on the financial services industry to digital marketing in general. Even when it was just about banking I liked it … now I love it.

Dumb Little Man — The world’s most useful blog. A team of writers contribute short, punchy articles on how to make life easier. Recent topics include “How to manage your time on social media,” “How to motivate your team” and “Six Tips to Re-Engerize in the Afternoon.” It’s not strictly about marketing, but it’s just so darn helpful.

Neicole Crepeau – Neicole is a tech-savvy writer and a great thinker. Her posts on Twitter and social media are consistently interesting and a couple of times each month she really smacks one out of the park with a post that is completely original and provocative. She is finding her blogging “voice” and is getting better and better each month.

One True Sentence — I don’t know how she does it, but Rebecca Denison puts out a summary of the best social media marketing, measurement and PR blog posts of the day … well most days at least! And she doesn’t just cover the same blogs all the time so it’s a great way to see a diverse digest of quality social media topics.

Phoenix Rising — Rebel Brown has been consulting on business transformations and start-ups in California for more than 20 years. Why wouldn’t you listen to her business advice? I like her posts because she draws on real-world experience, doesn’t pull any punches, and examines the human side of business. It’s a fun and ballsy blog.

So there are a few new idea-generators for you to consider. For good measure, of the “mainstream” blogs, here are the three I read most consistently:

Tough Sledding — Bill Sledzik teaches PR at Kent State University. His posts are like going to school. I love the way he explores current topics and inserts his own observations and experiences … just like an effective teacher. He hates to be called a marketing guy but I do it to piss him off. Bill, it’s ALL marketing.

Jeff Bullas — I don’t believe there is anybody who provides so much depth to the social media marketing conversation so consistently. I look forward to every post from Down Under. The man is very talented and insightful!

Social Media Explorer — For my money, Jason Falls is the best social media blogger in the business. He covers it all — technology, business applications, trends and opinion. He’s freaky smart, a superb writer and a fellow WVU grad. What’s not to like?

OK, I’ve shared with you … now it’s your turn. That’s how it works around here! So, what are you reading these days? How about sharing your favorite blogs with the rest of the community in the comment section!

For the last two months I have been eagerly anticipating the results of Dr. Ben Hanna’s Business.com 2009 survey of corporate social media utilization. Why is this report significant? With nearly 3,000 valid respondents, this is probably the largest survey ever conducted on this subject and also represents one of a handful of social media research projects with a methodology and analytics that I actually trust. Let’s get to some of the highlights and implications:

Where’s the beef?

Some of the most interesting findings were around the hot topic of “measurement.” About 65% of the respondents gauge success by “web traffic” followed by engagements with sales leads (57%), brand awareness (54%), customer engagement (50%) and revenue (42%).

But as the graph above indicates, most companies report they can’t see a connection between social media initiatives and success. For even those judging success by something as simple as “web traffic,” only 15% thought they were seeing progress. More confidence was expressed in the ability to impact brand reputation/awareness (33%), and engagement with sales leads (26%). Of the 609 respondents trying to track revenue, nearly 80% could not see an impact from social media initiatives.

Lack of adequate data is a problem

Another dilemma presented by the research is that most companies don’t believe they are getting adequate metrics to even measure results.

At the top end of the scale, 65% of respondents using web site traffic as a social media success metric report that the information they need to measure results is easily accessed when needed. Those measuring brand metrics – awareness and reputation – fall to the bottom of the scale. Only 50% believe they can measure the impact of social media initiatives on this metric. I’m actually surprised the number is even that high.

The survey also concludes that those with more experience in social media do a better job measuring impact.

Less than 10% of the companies surveyed pay to use any monitoring service. Free apps like Google Search, Google Alerts and Twitter Search lead the pack.

Surprises in user base

Nearly 65% of the survey’s respondents reported using social media as part of their normal work routine. The results by job role were somewhat surprising in that respondents working in the IT department were significantly less likely than those from almost every other department to use social media. People associated with consulting, PR, real estate and marketing were heaviest users.

Those directly involved in planning or managing company social media initiatives spend about 18 percent of their time devoted to this. Combined with other data in the research, you might conclude most companies are still “dabbling” in social media initiatives.

High community participation

I was surprised to see that over half of respondents said they participate in online business communities or forums. This is far higher than the typical 2% participation rate among monthly visitors to online blogs and communities. The researchers explained that this difference may be due to how study respondents understood the word “participate,” possibly interpreting it as “visit,” or that the rapid expansion in the number of niche online business communities may be influencing greater usage.

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